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Mormonism increasingly draws Spanish-speakers as converts
Arizona Daily Star ^ | March 8, 2008 | Stephanie Innes

Posted on 03/08/2008 5:14:33 PM PST by Zakeet

Spanish-speakers are fueling growth in the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which recently opened new worship space on Tucson's predominantly Hispanic South Side.

Many local Mormon worshippers, like 47-year-old Juan Arroyo, converted to the faith from Catholicism while living in their native countries. Arroyo, a roofer who has four children, joined the church when he lived in Guadalajara, Mexico. He's been in the United States for seven years.

"I was missing something, and my life changed greatly after meeting the missionaries," he said in Spanish.

Nationally, the number of Spanish-speaking congregations in the Mormon church grew by 64 percent between 2000 and 2006. There are 639 such congregations in the United States.

[Snip]

The church is growing quickly in Mexico.

Church officials say its presence there began in 1875 when Brigham Young, then denomination president, called on six missionaries from Salt Lake City to bring Spanish-language materials about the church to Mexico. In 1885, a group of nearly 400 colonists from Utah arrived at northern Mexico's Casas Grandes River. Mexico's first stake was created in Colonia Juárez in 1895. By 1912, more than 4,000 members had settled in Chihuahua and Sonora.

More than 1 million members now live in Mexico, a predominantly Catholic country with a population of about 108 million.

(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...


TOPICS: Current Events; History; Other Christian; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: aliens; catholic; hispanic; immigration; lds; mormon; mormonism
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To: All

21 posted on 03/09/2008 8:00:17 AM PDT by TheDon
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To: colorcountry; Pan_Yans Wife; MHGinTN; Colofornian; Elsie; FastCoyote; Osage Orange; Greg F; ...

Ping


22 posted on 03/09/2008 8:07:52 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (We need 2 pills, one to prevent cancer , one to prevent old age...HURRY! I am past 60!)
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To: wintertime

It seems you are a victim of Mormon Propaganda....

Two national censuses in Latin America asked people to identify their specific religious affiliation. In 2000, Mexico tallied 205,229 Mormons ages five or older. But the LDS Church there claimed 846,931 members as of the end of 1999. “Even if one recognizes that the census figure includes only people five and older while the church numbers include infants and small children, the difference is stunning,” wrote David Clark Knowlton of Utah State Valley College in an article.

Chile’s 2002 census said that 103,735 people 15 and older identified themselves as Mormon, whereas the church reported that Mormons in Chile numbered 520,202 at the end of 2001. The census reports in Mexico and Chile, after accounting for the different ages included, both listed Latter-day Saints in their nations at numbers only about 25 percent of what the church counted, according to Knowlton, a specialist in religion in Latin America.


23 posted on 03/09/2008 8:12:09 AM PDT by colorcountry (To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Zakeet; restornu

B. Carmon Hardy, a polygamy expert and retired history professor at California State University-Fullerton, said polygamy was "a very important part of Miles Park Romney's family."

Hardy added: "Now, very gradually, as you moved farther away from it, it became less a part of it. But during the time of Miles Park Romney, it was an essential principle of the Romney family life.

-SNIP-

Miles Romney and his one clearly documented wife, Elizabeth Gaskell, had 10 children. Among them was Miles Park Romney, one of Mitt Romney's great-grandfathers.

Miles Park Romney had five wives. With his first wife, Hannah Hood Hill, he had 11 children. Among them was Gaskell Romney, Mitt Romney's paternal grandfather.

Hannah Hood Hill's autobiography offers an eyewitness account of the Romney family's polygamous past. Hardy, the Cal-State historian, found it amid research for his upcoming book, "Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy."

Hood Hill wrote of Miles Park Romney: "I felt that was more than I could endure, to have him divide his time and affections from me. I used to walk the floor and shed tears of sorrow. If anything will make a woman's heart ache, it is for her husband to take another wife. ... But I put my trust in my heavenly father, and prayed and pleaded with him to give me strength to bear this great trial."

Miles Park Romney's final marriage, to Emily Eyring Smith, came in 1897, more than six years after "The Manifesto."

Gaskell Romney, Mitt Romney's grandfather, was not a polygamist. He married Anna Amelia Pratt, the daughter of polygamists and the granddaughter of Parley P. Pratt, the apostle with 12 wives. Their marriage took place Feb. 20, 1895, in Dublan, Mexico.

Gaskell Romney had moved to Mexico with his parents in 1884 amid the proliferation of U.S. laws prohibiting "unlawful cohabitation." Anna Pratt was born in Utah but had emigrated to Mexico and lived in one of nine colonies established by the church over the border.

Gaskell Romney and Anna Pratt had seven children, including George Wilcken Romney, the former Michigan governor. He lived with his parents in Mexico until 1912, when the family returned to the United States.

George Romney married Lenore LaFount, who does not appear to have polygamy in her family tree. The couple, now deceased, had four children, including Mitt Romney.

Deseret News


24 posted on 03/09/2008 8:28:43 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (We need 2 pills, one to prevent cancer , one to prevent old age...HURRY! I am past 60!)
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To: TheDon
.... ....
25 posted on 03/09/2008 8:29:21 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (We need 2 pills, one to prevent cancer , one to prevent old age...HURRY! I am past 60!)
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To: ARE SOLE
Could this be why Sen. Orrin Hatch keeps pushing the illegal coddling “Dream Act”?

Tithing from illegals swells church coffers just as well as does tithing from citizens.

Senator Fine-Tuning immigration Measure (in UT)

Link

"However, Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy has urged lawmakers to take a "more thoughtful, factual, not to mention humane, approach" to immigration legislation. And Elder Russell M. Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve has, as a member of the Alliance for Unity, opposed the repeal of in-state tuition for undocumented college students. That provision has been removed from Hickman's bill but passed the House as a stand-alone measure, HB241, which now awaits a Senate hearing."

26 posted on 03/09/2008 8:43:46 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (We need 2 pills, one to prevent cancer , one to prevent old age...HURRY! I am past 60!)
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To: colorcountry
I was merely quiting the article.

I don't read Mormon propaganda.

27 posted on 03/09/2008 8:48:22 AM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid.)
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To: colorcountry
I dont’ read anit-Mormon propaganda either. I has a bad spirit about it.
28 posted on 03/09/2008 8:49:05 AM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid.)
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To: Zakeet
On this I differ, Judge MR on who he is not who his family was. I certainly do not want to be judged on my grandfather's Sicilian history.
29 posted on 03/09/2008 9:04:11 AM PDT by svcw (The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.)
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To: wintertime
I dont’ read anit-Mormon propaganda either.

LOL. I see your screen name on mormon-RELATED threads occasionally. If you don't read "mormon" or "anti-mormon" propaganda, how about reading facts that are posted with corrobating links? Do you check out the links?

If I had an opinion similar to that you have described, I doubt I would click on the mormon threads at all.

30 posted on 03/09/2008 9:17:29 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (We need 2 pills, one to prevent cancer , one to prevent old age...HURRY! I am past 60!)
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To: svcw

I believe Zakeet’s post was related to how the roots of mormonism were planted in Mexico.


31 posted on 03/09/2008 9:19:39 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (We need 2 pills, one to prevent cancer , one to prevent old age...HURRY! I am past 60!)
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To: greyfoxx39

Ok, then I completely missed it.
I am watching the grandkids this am and have not had coffee....ok not an excuse but the best one I could think off ;-)


32 posted on 03/09/2008 9:29:58 AM PDT by svcw (The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.)
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To: svcw

Grandkids early in the morning are a challenge! ;)


33 posted on 03/09/2008 9:35:01 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (We need 2 pills, one to prevent cancer , one to prevent old age...HURRY! I am past 60!)
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To: wintertime
I dont’ read anit-Mormon propaganda either. I has a bad spirit about it.

Do you read Mormon propaganda?

34 posted on 03/09/2008 9:42:58 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: P-Marlowe

Nope!

And,,,It is pretty rare for me to be on a Mormon thread. Very negative! Very bad Spirit!


35 posted on 03/09/2008 9:52:27 AM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid.)
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To: wintertime

“And,,,It is pretty rare for me to be on a Mormon thread. Very negative! Very bad Spirit!”


Even though Mormonism is a non Christian cult you believe that it is good for people to join them, you believe that the Pope “gets it” and that he really is Christ’s truth, but you aren’t a Catholic.

I think that it may help you to continue to read these threads, it may help you to reach a more definitive, passionate commitment to your faith.

I believe that is why I am reading them, it reinforces for me that my Christianity is under constant challenge and that it is important for me to know where I stand.


36 posted on 03/09/2008 10:21:51 AM PDT by ansel12 (Ronald W. Reagan and William F. Buckley Jr., both were U.S. Army veterans.)
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To: greyfoxx39
I checked on this thread because my husband and I recently spent 6 months attending language school in Coast Rica. It distresses me that a beautiful country like Costa Rica which has a Catholic culture can be so backward and corrupt in so many ways. They simply do not have the same respect for rule of law and private property that we enjoy in the U.S.

I will give a small example. I could bore you with hundreds.

One of my teachers was amazed that none of the students in the class ( all from the U.S.) had ever bribed a policeman, nor did anyone of us know anyone who had ever done it. We tried to explain that the policeman would likely be **insulted** and the legal consequences for us ( if we tried) could be very severe. My teacher was amazed!

Yet, Costa Rica is a Catholic country. I was raised Catholic and I **KNOW** that if the principles of the catechism were applied to their daily family and business lives, the quality of life for Costa Ricans would immediately improve greatly in every possible way!

Why is there this dual culture in Costa Rica ( and likely Mexico)? Why is a country with a long tradition of Catholicism, which is supposed to be teaching principles that would improve their temporal and spiritual lives, how can it be soooooo corrupt?

Having some familiarity with Mormons, I am encouraged to see people in Costa Rica joining this faith. I have met a few Costa Rican Mormon families and they are doing so much better in every way than Costa Rican families in general. Hopefully Mormonism, as it continues to grow in Costa Rica, will help this country spiritually and temporally.

My husband and I like to ski in Utah. It really does have the “Greatest Snow on Earth” and it is a short, **very** convenient trip by car to the slopes ( about 30 to 40 minutes). Therefore, I do have some personal interest in the state. I find it amazing that the great city of Salt Lake did not exist a mere 161 years ago. It was nothing but wilderness! What an interesting history the Mormons have! We also have some non-Mormon acquaintances who have retired in Utah.

It's not often that you'll find my name on the Mormon threads. If I do post, it's usually to say something well known such as the official LDS church does not practice polygamy..or some such thing, I don't usually have much of a spiritual opinion about any religion's doctrine, except my own.

37 posted on 03/09/2008 10:24:24 AM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid.)
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To: wintertime
I don't usually have much of a spiritual opinion about any religion's doctrine, except my own.

What is your religion and what is its doctrine?

38 posted on 03/09/2008 10:37:51 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: ansel12
Even though Mormonism is a non Christian cult you believe that it is good for people to join them, you believe that the Pope “gets it” and that he really is Christ’s truth, but you aren’t a Catholic.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yep! Yep! Yep!

Yep! Having spent considerable time living and studying in Costa Rica, Mormon families are doing much better in general that the average Costa Rican. Costa Rican families are quickly unraveling. There is a high incidence of divorce and single motherhood. Infidelity is rampant. Children are being raised with out fathers. With each visit I make, crime and violence is much worse, and the dress and deportment of their youth deteriorates. If Costa Ricans would fully embrace the catechism of their own religion, Catholicism, and fully apply it to their lives they would be a LOT better off! In fact, it is my opinion that if Catholics returned to their gospel principles and junked all the Liberation Theology baggage they would not be hemorrhaging members to the evangelicals and Mormons.

Yep! I believe the Pope is very wise. He gives a LOT of very good advice and Catholics would be a lot better off individually, in their family lives, and in the outside world if they would fully do what he said.

Yep! I am not Catholic any more.

Re: Christ's truth
I do think the Pope is a good and spiritual man. Catholics and everyone would do well to listen and do a lot of what he is suggesting. It is good advice. In reference to the article posted, he was indeed speaking truth! I am sorry if I left the impression that he was was infallible in all area. I don't believe he is.

39 posted on 03/09/2008 10:38:21 AM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid.)
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To: wintertime
If I do post, it's usually to say something well known such as the official LDS church does not practice polygamy...

(Oh. So the "official LDS church" doesn't exist in the celestial kingdom? Could you then explain what that bumper sticker means, "Families are forever"?)

40 posted on 03/09/2008 11:03:07 AM PDT by Colofornian
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